Soy in Action

BEEF As expected, beef pricing for middle meats is moving lower. Strips, ribeyes and tenderloins all coming off a bit from pre-holiday highs. I expect we will see this continue right to the end of the month. Grinds on the other hand are keeping prices high and will be moving higher. Ground beef is still the value in the beef complex even with advancing prices. Chucks and rounds will be coming off a bit, but don’t expect too much from these primals as far as discounting. Beef production during the holiday shortened week was 458K head down from the prior week’s 537K head and down compared to last year’s holiday when the harvest was 474, keeping beef tight and expensive. Thin meats are a mixed bag; declines in briskets and sirloin flap while flank still has support pushing higher. With inventories tight, I’d recommend staying ahead of your needs, but you will see better pricing over the next few weeks. POULTRY We’ll start talking about poultry with avian flu. Our good run has come to an end. Only one case reported, but it is 1.2 million egg layers in Utah removed from the food supply. Talking about current chicken market, wings are on fire moving up strongly for next week. Randoms and tenders are holding steady at least for next week. Production continues strong but demand is pushing this market. I don’t expect chicken to take a big run up we should see a pretty steady market through the summer. GRAINS China is back to purchasing soybeans after the protracted tariff disruption, booking 132K metric tons with commitment to purchase 25M metric tons through 2028. Shooting started again with Iran; both those events turned a promising decline in soy oil right around with prices inching higher every day.  Corn closed up at $4.48/bushel over last week’s $4.31 close. Wheat is up across the board too. Though we have so much corn we’ll not see much effect from this latest move higher, wheat could push flour pricing up. Right now, the action is in soy.  PORK Pork bellies finally showing some direction closing at $132 up from last week's $119. We’ll keep watching to see if this is an event or a trend, I’m betting trend, but I’ve been fooled a couple times this year, so let's see it play out. If this is the expected belly summer climb, now it when to buy bacon. Butts and ribs holding steady and a good value, loins actually moving a few cents lower makes a great value in protein. DAIRY The CME closed today with the block up 8, the barrel up 4 and butter moving down 2. This is the most active we’ve seen this trade in quite a while.  Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn